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In an effort to put more teeth into its so-called media “transparency” initiatives, the 4As today called on its members to put the association’s principles into practice, not just treat them as recommendations for best practices. Additionally, the 4As unveiled plans to conduct a series of member meetings to discuss how to put the principles into practice.
Deutsche Telekom is two years into a massive digital transformation project. The goal: to take control of its media-buying practice and ensure it’s getting the transparency it wants on digital-media trading, a strategy driven by the continuing process of arbitrage. That’s fundamentally changed how it works with its agencies. DT has built an in-house ad tech stack, chooses its own tech providers, and controls its data.
Read More Digiday UK: Deutsche Telekom media chief: ‘Attitudes to rebates are changing in Europe’
In June, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) dropped a bombshell report that shined a light on the darker underbelly of media trading. The same report delivered some truths about sketchy ad tech deals, showing how some ad tech firms have contributed to the rebate issue, non-transparent practices in general and the “black-box” deals.
Read More Digiday: Confessions of an ad tech veteran: ‘Publishers need to audit their exchanges’
Guidelines published by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in the States last month sent heads spinning across the industry in their recommendation that brands hire a chief media officer to police transparency and ensure media accountability. But isn’t this what the media agency is supposed to do? Do brands really need this role, and why?
The fundamental issue which lies at the heart of the ANA’s recent Media Transparency Report is this: media agencies have failed to manage conflicts of interest which have arisen by virtue of their position in the media value chain.
The Guardian has disclosed for the first time in its accounts that it makes “cash payments” and gives “free advertising space” in rebates to agencies in return for certain levels of spend.
Read More Campaign: End the secrecy and open up the rebate debate
The rise of media rebates in the United States has put agencies under a harsh spotlight, thanks in part to the Association of National Advertisers’ June agency transparency report. But relatively little attention has been paid to the role of media sellers in driving the practice.
Read More AdExchanger: Inside Google’s US Media Rebate Program
Many don’t agree,mbut Curtis Smith, Accenture’s North America Media Lead, told a MediaPost marketing conference this week that for the most part, marketers trust their media agencies. And they do so despite allegations in a recent report from the Association of National Advertisers that many agencies in the U.S. are accepting rebates and other forms of payment from media companies in exchange for volume business without disclosing the payments to clients.
Read More MediaPost Agency Daily: Wild Card In Agency/Client Relationship: Trust
Another British newspaper is shedding a little light on the murky and controversial subject of agency rebates — the refunds that publishers and broadcasters sometimes, allegedly, pay to media buyers and ad agencies in return for high volume purchases or other incentives.
The US Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) seminal investigation into media agency practices has made tough criticisms of the way they make their money from media owner rebates. But this has also resurfaced claims from Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of agency group WPP, that media auditors and consultants have conflicted interests too. To understand whether these claims have substance, we have to look at the history of media auditing.